From Fading Memories
by Melson Wheels
Summary: Kakashi Hatake had been on plenty of missions before but never had he done something this horrible. Now with no memory of what happened he lives as a roaming soul trying to find his body. Only problem--he's dead...KakashixSakura!
1. Forgotten Memories

**To continue with my Kakashi fanfics and incomplete stories oops... I present to you another Kakashi fanfic! **

**I do not own Naruto...if I did, my stories would actually happen in the manga.**

**BTW, if you do not keep up with the Japanese manga, this story contains major spoilers.

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Silently trailing his finger on top of the water, making little ripples that followed the trails he made, Kakashi's mind wandered into the distance.

He had forgotten about Asuma's death...

He had forgotten about Jaraiya's heroic downfall...

He had forgotten about all of the horrible things he must suppress everyday, but never once could he forget the man behind the mask...himself.

Questioning life was common for the average man, but then again Kakashi was certainly no average man; he was a shinobi, a tool used for sabatoge, assassinations and defense. Why question life when you have been brainwashed to feel nothing for humanity; to transform into a killing machine and see out your duties however horrible they may be. Sure Kakashi had wondered why exactly the Hokage picked him to perform an A-rank mission, but never once did he challenge the humanity of it.

But it was when he would fall into these trances that he could get into every now and then, that he would rediscover the human inside of him and not just the object; when he would feel guilt, pain, lonliness, regret, happiness, triumph, love...

Ah love, how much he wished for the sweet sensation of love. It's hard to keep up with love when you're involved in such a hateful job; dampered down with such a constant nagging guilt.

He had forgotten all about Sakura...

He had forgotten all about Naruto...

He had forgotten about his chance encounters with actresses, and circus managers...

He had even forgotten about Sasuke!

How could he forget about Sasuke--Kakashi's frustration snapped him out of his trance and making a fist went to punch the water but instead controlled himself and gave it a light tap with the base of his hand. Leaning his head back on the tree and sighing, the dry hand reached into his pocket to search for a familiar sustanance, but there were only pointy, deadly objects. Frantically he searched through his backpack; nothing. His eye widened as he suddly recalled what had happened.

"Noooo!" he whined. "Of all things..." On his knees, fell back once again against the tree. Slowly he rubbed his chest revealing a small tear in his clothing. The Icha Icha series that had been personally signed by Jaraiya himself saved his life. "Hm," he laughed to himself. "If Naruto were here, what would he say...? It's nice to know that porn is good for something..."

Sighing gently, Kakashi suddenly felt exhausted. Fighting a war can do that to a person; especially when it's one versus one hundred. A tiny village had decided to revolt and a few ANBU members were sent to observe the actions of their military. Turns out that there were some double agents working for that village in the Hokage's office. Since they had been notified, they discovered those ANBU members, killed three of them on the spot, left two to die in front of the main gate off the Village Hidden in the Leaves, and captured one, erased his memories, put them in a jar and followed up by a nice session of torture. No this ANBU was not Kakashi Hatake--he was sent with Anko to plan a sneak attack after Tsunade had found out that six of most trustworthy, strong shinobi were murdered.

Let's just say there are a lot of double agents from this tiny village. Kakashi and Anko were discovered despite their disguises and taken as prisoners. Anko managed to escape the following day due to a famous Kakashi distraction; perv's do not just exist in the Village Hidden in the Leaves! The guard himself was into the same naughty series and became involved with it a little too much...yes, if you are thinking what it might be, chances are you are right...there was an invitation to a pants party that night. It was hard to keep a straight face and not laugh, but Anko slinked off into the night unnoticed by anyone. Kakashi agreed to stay back with the intention of taking a few villagers back with him and killing a few to prove a point.

Intention, however, is different from the actual doing. Kakashi's mind could not help but replay the scene over and over again in his mind. He wasn't too clear on who was there, what had gone wrong and the major details, let alone the minor ones; but the did remember the loss of his precious, soiled book. He couldn't even begin to retrace his steps; his legs were paralyzed from the knee down and he had just got the bleeding from his side under control. It was a poisoned spear that struck him he figured. One minute he was running down a stone corridor, the next he awoke by the river with a massaccred village in his sightline.

When Kakashi came to he was frightened; he had no idea who he was are what he was doing, but his memory was coming back to him slowly, but steadily; all that was left was the battle, but no matter how hard he tried, he could not seen to recover the incident. Maybe he just needed to sleep on it...boy was he hungry sitting by that tree...he had to go to the bathroom really bad too...had he drunken a considerable amount of alcohol?? It would explain everything, but there were no alcoholic beverages anywhere in that dungeon.

Kakashi gave one last sigh, "All you can do...Naruto...Sakura...Sasuke...I'm guilty..." Where were they? He had not seen them in ages. It was as if he never had a second to himself anymore; no time for friends, family, recovery missions or ramen. "I'm guilty of the murder of one hundred shinobi; one hundred twenty women; one hundred fifty three men; two hundred children..." Thirty-three years old, he has exceeded the death toll of any ex- or current ANBU member; always breaking records he was.

Sleep called out for him, but the sun did not activate Kakashi's sleep sensors so it was impossible. The swealtering heat poured down on his burning skin, the river splashed an occaisional drop of water against his face, but his mask absorbed it all and the the sun dried it up. His arms were too weak to take his mask off and the filtered air became to little for him. _Move your body if you want to make it alive._ Kakashi's eyelids were the first to respond; then his head; his neck; his back...passed out left to be part of the carnage and not to be seen by anyone for a very long time.

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**Kakashi's jouney begins...! Review please! I may be a little rusty; I haven't thought of a story in a very long time.**


	2. A Little Bird

**At least two chapters a week! This is summer after all and with all the freetime I have in between work and nothingness, why not keep my brain healthy and not overloading with ideas.**

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A soft mist moistened the ground and whetted the silver hair upon his heavy head. His hands twitched and combed through the grass. Taking a clump in each hand, Kakashi managed to push his tired body off the ground, but his elbows gave way and he came crashing back. His eyes had not even opened and he insisted on moving; it worried him that he was lying on his stomach instead of leaning against that tree. Kakashi rarely squirmed around...but oh...he had passed out.

He lay motionless as a soft breeze blew throughout the green field. Overhead, two birds were chasing each other, making squabbles and noises that vibrated in Kakashi's head. _And I thought that Naruto was bad..._Kakashi turned his head from the left to the right side and slowly peered out through his normal eye. A lower elevation of sight revealed that it was a misty, foggy day and the only sign of life there were the two birds who finally landed on the ground to flutter frantically. Watching this tiny rumble occur made him laugh a little. They were kind of cute, he thought and just within arm's reach. _Maybe I can catch one._

Silly idea...slowly Kakashi moved his arm as it shook all over the place from his frail state and just as he was about to touch the head of one of the struggling birds, they turned on him and started to attack his head, pecking at it furiously! Keeping his eyes shut tight to prevent an injury there, he wondered to himself if he could possibly go any lower. _I'm being beat up by sparrows! Ow!_Just then the cry of a circling hawk filled the air and both of the tiny sparrows froze and clung to Kakashi's hair. Turning his face to look up at the flying entity he saw two pairs of talons headed straight towards him. Kakashi ducked and all he could hear were two tiny screeched as a powerful wind brisked his forehead.

Gone...excited by what had just happened, Kakashi managed to sit straight up and watch the hawk soar ahead, victorious.

"Urrmm..." a nausea swept up and down Kakashi's throat and down went the mask and up came the bile. Coughing and gasping for air, he wretched a few more times before falling back onto his back and trying to fix his vision into one image. Panting and sweating a lump appeared on his chest...a moving lump that seemed to scratch his skin while it traveled up towards his neck.

"Huh? What the...?" Lifting his head to meet his chest, a feathery bird head poked out from underneath his torn shirt and stared him in the eyes. Both seemed a little stunned, but then the bird pecked Kakashi on the tip of his nose. "Hey!" This scared the little creature back underneath the cloth. Sighing Kakashi decided the bird would come out on it's own and laid back down and closed his eyes only to fall into a deep sleep.

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_Running down a fire-lit corridor, adrenaline pumping throughout his veins, Kakashi peered behind him to make sure that no one was following. He may have lost them a while back, but these shinobi were certainly fast._

_All was clear and the exit was straight ahead. _

No, not there..._A direct exit was obvious, but those shinobi expected Kakashi to think that way, so he decided to take the obvious exit._

_The cool night air touched his masked face and the full moon illuminated the village. The glare on Kakashi's ANBU sword shone like a star itself as he ran to the edge of town. The streets were busy tonight; the stands of fruit and vegetables were full and plentiful, the fresh fabrics were folded neatly and little kids ran around asking their mothers for candy. So to avoid suspicion, he slowed down his pace and sleuthed around. Using jutsu would alarm the shinobi who were on lookout duty and surely speed up the overall level alert of the village. _

_Passing by an open window he heard the sounds of footsteps behind him. Not looking behind, Kakashi kept the same pace if it was a shinobi from that village, he would already have been caught. His ANBU mask hung around his neck, his sword was at his side he was unable to take it's sheath in time without being caught escaping from the prison, and his hair belonged to no one other than him. If he remembered correctly, his father had visited this same village to spy on the leader; once before this same quiet town had shown some form of rebellion--soon after, the wars began..._

_Still the extra pair of footsteps followed and now Kakashi's senses started to pick up something menacing. Like a flash of light, Kakashi slashed his sword against his shadow and it crumpled to the ground without making a peep. Sure enough it was a shinobi...or that's what it looked like. Upon closer inspection the boy he had just killed looked no older then the age of twelve, a headband with the marking of a small circle rest in his hand. _

_"Oh shit," Kakashi put his hand against the lifeless body's heart to see if there was any sign of life, and there was none. Crouched down he put his hand up to his forehead, and said a quick, silent prayer. _

_"Taksa! Taksa where are you?" the voice of a little girl cried out. Her shadow appeared in the alley way; Kakashi fled. From the distance he could hear her little shout and cry as that girl covered herself in the blood of the boy. "TAKSA! MOMMY!! MOMMY!!"_

_Kakashi's heart sunk in his chest at what he did, but he kept on running to the forest._

_"Everybody move on out! That Hatake is out there!" _

_Kakashi had run directly into a group of scouts searching for his head, left with no other routes of escape, he jumped up onto the building and sent up a warning flare. The crowd of people below him were sent into a frenzy as the ninja shouted orders and commands. As quickly as possible Kakashi's hands made the signs to create five shadow clones and all five split up. Kakashi remained on top of the building awaiting the tide of warriors to attack._

_"Well, well..." a low growl said. "Sakumo's son killing the children."_

_Kakashi swung around and came face to face with the little boy he had murdered._

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His eyes snapped open and he gasped. Bolting up, Kakashi rubbed his eyes and felt something fly out of his hair and land on his lap. A soft tweet made him jump out of surprise. Looking down the little bird pecked at Kakashi's leg. This peck sent a painful sensation directly to his side which made him bend over in pain. The bird jumped back and stood on his knee instead.

"I need to get out of here."

Kakashi desperately hoped that he could move his legs again and as painful as it was, he must continue back to the village. Slowly he attempted to bend his legs; they were weak, but they were strong and eventually Kakashi was standing, leaning against his tree, clutching his side and preparing himself for one terrible journey. He was wondering why nobody had come back for him; not even Anko, the person who was sent out on this mission at his side, but none of that mattered. The only person he could truly rely on at this point in time was himself.

The tiny bird flew onto the tree branch and observed Kakashi's movements. Singing a pretty song, Kakashi watched as the bird opened it's beak and call out into the night sky. After the serenade was done it turned it's attention once again to the silver haired ninja. Raising an eyebrow Kakashi smiled as best he could. "What, do you want to come?" A ridiculous question he thought, but to his surprise the sparrow alighted on his shoulder and promptly pecked Kakashi's head. "I guess that's a yes..."

One foot in front of the other.

The load was lighter than before; his sword was gone and there was no weapon's pouch like he had on him before. It mysteriously disappeared while he was sleeping, but there was no need for something like that now. All Kakashi needed was food, water, sleep and some medical attention.

But o get to the edge of the forest, to the trail that would take him home, Kakashi must travel through the once hearty, lively town he single handedly destroyed.

It seemed to take ages to move about. Darkness became darker and soon enough he could barely see in front of him. He couldn't stop now though, it was too much of an effort to stop and then start again.

One foot in front of the other.

Blindly, Kakashi shifted through the grass for a piece of wood that had broken off a crate or even a stick; he needed some source of light somehow. The clouds were blocking the moon and a light rain produced a curse out of him. The sparrow fluffed it's wet feathers and grumbled a little.

"Tell me about it," Kakashi responded. The little bird had survived a hawk, but now all was lost in the rain. _I'm going to have to bear the rain and give it my best shot tonight. _The bird tweeted even louder this time and went into a frenzy of cries. "Hey settle down! It can't get any worse than this."

Thunder...

Lightening...

"I spoke too soon."

This light however, illuminated the outlines of the remains of the buildings and clumsily, Kakashi made his way towards his destination. The rain picked up in intensity and Kakashi now ran as fast as he could to find some form of shelter.

He had reached the stony gates and without hesitation stepped inside the safety of the village. An empty house directly to his right welcomed the two suffering creatures into the hands of dryness. Coughing, soaking wet, Kakashi tripped inside and started his search for light. The switches on the wall still worked. It might as well have been better if he had kept the light off, but then again a shinobi should be used to seeing dead bodies. It wasn't that obtrusive--just an old woman who seemed to have died in her sleep. The bedroom and the kitchen connected to each other and a wall separated that from what looked like a living area and bathroom.

"Weird house..."

Outside the storm continued at full force and the wind blew the door shut. The sparrow flew onto the back of a chair and spread his wings to shake out his feathers. Kakashi headed into the bathroom in hopes to find some sort of first aid. There was nothing there and his wound was burning terribly. _At least I'm inside now. Maybe there's some food in the fridge._

On entering the kitchen/bedroom once again, a thrust sent Kakashi flying against the wall. And a bright white light formed a barrier between him and the dead old woman who was transforming into the skeleton that supported her dead flesh. The window on the opposite wall seemed to glow and turn from light to dark, from light to dark and the lights in the room faded out. A strong wind blew back his hair and then it stopped.

Things were moving in slow motion: the door opened and in walks a woman. She had pink hair and emerald eyes and with her another blond, older looking woman followed. He recognized them to be Sakura Haruno and Tsunade, the fifth Hokage. They appeared older, especially Sakura. Trying to call out for them was no use, everything was too slow. Taking a step forward he realized the expression on their faces as they looked down to see the skeleton on the bed and another decaying body on the floor. The small bird flew next to the body and cocked it's head in confusion and then peered up at Kakashi.

"No..." Sakura said, her voice drawled. "Kakashi Hatake..."

And then like a truck, time hit him. The room spun around and things were normal once again. Sakura and Tsunade seemed to be moving around at the same normal speed, but they look frightened and sorrowful.

"After three years, we find him," Tsunade picked up his ANBU mask off of the ground.

"Dead..." Sakura stood up and faced the blonde haired woman. "What do you suppose happened?"

"I'll explain the story later. As for now, we need to inform Naruto, Iruka and anybody else who was close to Kakashi. We will have a funeral for him tomorrow morning."

"When we found Anko dead, I didn't want to believe that Kakashi had died as well. Then I heard the story of how he had killed all the people in this village from that double agent I thought for sure that someone with that power wouldn't be dead," Sakura's eyes watered. "It's weird to think of my former sensei dead."

"Sakura, report back to the village."

"Yes Lady Tsunade."

Sakura ran off in a flash leaving Tsunade staring at the remains of Kakashi.

"Tsunade, I'm alive, I'm right here!! Lady Tsuande!" Kakashi shouted out desperately. There was no response. "No, it can't be...this is a dream...a genjutsu...no..."

Tsunade closed her eyes in thought then turned her head directly to where Kakashi was standing. The bird flew over and landed on her shoulder and sang its song. "Hm."

Going back to the dead body, she knelt down and touched the skull and a wave of chakra filled the room. Kakashi felt a warm sensation overcome his body and he saw what appeared to be a spirit flow out of Tsunade. Their eyes met and it was over. Tsunade stood up and turned herself around; the sparrow stayed on her shoulder.

"Follow me Kakashi."

"Huh?"

Tsunade walked out of the house.

"She could see me," Kakashi leaned back against the wall and slid down, amazed and exhausted. "But I'm there...I'm dead..."

Flashes filled his head and the room warped and seemed to melt away.

"Three years."

Kakashi stood back up and walked out of the house and through the village. Tsunade was no where to be seen, she probably went back to the Konoha, but the remains and ruins called out to him, they beckoned some exploration. As he strolled down the once busy streets Kakashi swore he saw the shadow of a little boy; just an unnecessary turn, nobody was there, except him.


	3. A Lost Soul

"Lady Tsunade," Shizune rushed up to greet her. "Did you find anything?"

Silent, with Kakashi's ANBU mask in her hand she sighed. "I don't understand why our shinobi did not find his body." Throwing the mask onto her desk Tsunade took the clipboard Shizune had in her hand. "Naruto's back I see...hm...let him be the first to know that Kakashi Hatake is dead." The sparrow on her shoulder gave a light grunt and hopped into a golden cage. "Good job Miska," the bird gave a delightful little chirp and started to eat away at the sunflower seeds in his feeder.

"Uh," Shizune's eyes widened as Tsunade walked out of the room and towards the hospital.

"Make the proper arrangements for a burial tomorrow!" Tsunade shouted back.

"Y-yes, Lady Tsunade."

Tsunade was amazed that so many people were surprised that the Copy-nin was indeed confirmed as dead; he had been missing for three years, but too many people would not accept the fact that a remarkable shinobi like Kakashi could die on a suicide mission. She remembers hearing all of the rumors and reasons of why he had not returned to the village and his body could not be found: "he was living as a stranger in some other town waiting to destroy the rebels once and for all," or "he had forgotten who he was and lived as a hobo on the streets of Konoha, but nobody recognized him." She was especially disappointed that great ninja such as Sakura still believed he was alive. Tsunade expected this attitude from Naruto, who was helplessly hopeful, but never from Sakura...not from herself.

What had really happened to Kakashi?

Approaching the hospital steps, Tsunade turned around to greet a familiar face. "Ah, Gai!"

"Is it true...?" Gai's eyes looked serious and solemn.

"Yes, I am afraid it is."

"Sakura just told me the news; but I have one question."

"Question away."

"How are we going to transport the body, there really is nothing to bury if I heard correctly."

"It will not be so much of a burial as a commemoration. We do have Kakashi's ANBU mask, and that will have to do, now if you'll excuse me, I have to tend to a few patients," Tsunade opened the double doors, but sensing that Gai was not yet satisfied with Tsunade's words, she decided to invite him along.

As they were walking through the hallways, the clipboard still in her grasp and Gai as silent as he ever was, Tsunade felt that she owed Gai an explanation for not having a proper funeral with the remains of the body.

"Gai, there is something you should know. I feel that you were close enough to Kakashi to get a complete and accurate play by play of what really happened that night."

Gai peered at her from the corner of his eyes. "What do mean...there's more to the story? From what I gathered, Kakashi had gone in and destroyed a whole village and his people and he was never seen again. Then three years later we now find his dead body. What's more to it? He must've survived and then wandered around the country a bit, then was overcome by sickness and died."

She was stricken by the simpleness of his explanation; when it came to Kakashi Hatake, things were never what they seemed. "I have a bird."

"Well...a bird?"

"Yes you heard me, a bird. A sparrow that has been trained to look for missing shinobi--every ANBU member is assigned a small bird and then there are a few for jonin and genin and some for citizens. In fact, Kakashi trained a few of them," Tsunade was waiting for some sort of interjection but there was none so she continued. "For the first year, I send search parties, the second year I send out jonin, and the third year, birds. The search parties proved to be useless; not one of them found his body anywhere in the country or at the village. Naruto just came back from the second year search, finely combing over every hill and mountain known to us; even overseas. Usually after the second year someone is found, but if they aren't then most likely a special jutsu is used to cover up the dead body or the survivor so that no one can see them."

"So then Kakashi must have fallen victim to some sort of jutsu," Gai stopped in his tracks. "Lord Hokage, how did you find him?"

Tsunade stopped as well and surveyed Gai's state. He too had just gotten back from an A-rank mission and he looked beat. "You need to rest Gai; there's an empty hospital bed in the room to your left. Go in there and I'll be in to give you a full scale examination. I sense that something is not right with you, now go." There was no use in protesting so though outwardly reluctant, Gai obeyed, but before he was in the room Tsunade added, "I'll tell you more later."

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"Naruto you're back!" Sakura ran into the lobby of the hospital with arms wide open.

"Sakura!" Naruto was immediately embraced in a tearful hug. "Huh...Sakura, what's wrong?"

Looking up with big, wet eyes, Sakura could not stare Naruto straight in the eyes as she told him what had happened. "We found Kakashi."

"You did? Good old Kakashi-sensei! Haha, I knew we'd find him! What a party! What d'ya say we celebrate! This is great where is he?" Naruto's celebratory woo-hoo turned many sick heads in the hospital.

"Naruto--" Sakura tried to interrupt Naruto's squabble.

"Wow this is amazing! We'll treat out to ramen! I bet he has so many stories to tell!"

"Naruto!" Still he wasn't going to give in so Sakura shouted at the top of her lungs in frustration. "Naruto! No!" Grabbing his arm she tightened her grip.

"Hey, Sakura what's wrong? Why not?"

"You can't do any of those things with him..."

"But--is he okay? Did something happen?"

Sakura took a deep breath and it seemed as if the world stopped, but she knew that she must say those three horrible words. "Kakashi is..." But she couldn't.

"He's what?"

"He's--"

"He's dead Naruto," from behind them Shizune came walking up and put a gentle hand on Sakura's shoulder trying to calm her down. "Lady Tsunade and Sakura found the remains of his body today. There will be a memorial for him tomorrow."

Naruto's mouth dropped and he stared blankly at the floor, but he must keep it together in front of Sakura; it was bad enough that a beloved friend was just discovered rotting on the ground. After he let the bad news sink in for a few seconds Naruto sat down in one of the cushioned waiting room chairs. "Three years gone; I guess I'm not surprised about his death..." He didn't believe a word he said.

"Ugh," Sakura dried her tears and sniffed. "It's amazing; usually you're the one who would be bawling their eyes out and not me."

"Hey!" Naruto said a little offended, but then thought about it and agreed. "Haha...you kind of got a point."

"He was a good person, Kakashi," Sakura commented.

Naruto and Shizune both nodded their head. "I figure that Kakashi wouldn't want us to cry for him, but live on as best we can. It's been too long for us to keep a strong bond with a dead person...kind of creepy when you think of it. All we can do is keep him in our memories, just like Jiraiya or Asuma," Naruto's stomach grumbled and broke the silence. "Oh man. I'm starving! Let's get something to eat, how about ramen?" Naruto stood up too fast and still tired from his mission stumbled a bit.

"Oh no you don't! You are going to stay here and recover," Shizune helped support Naruto's heavy body as he dredged across the lobby floor. "I wish you were as light as your levity Naruto."

"I'll come and visit you later to see how you're doing Naruto," Sakura said and she promptly went to find Tsunade.

"Okay," Naruto mumbled.

* * *

"Hello Gai, comfortable?" Tsunade walked into the hospital bedroom which she ordered Gai to stay in.

"As ever! It's been a long time since I've been in here."

"It's been a pattern for you though. After every mission you end up here; I think you're youth is fading."

"Oh jeesh, don't say that! Nah, I've just become careless. Have you ever seen a 36 year old with shinier teeth than me?"

"Hm," Tsunade was slightly amused. "So, would you like the physical or the rest of the story first?"

"Heh...I guess I'd like to hear the rest of the story if you don't mind."

Tsunade looked around the room for the usually spinning stool, found it, dragged it to the end of the bed and sat down. "Alright, where was I?"

"You had just finished the birds, and you were about to tell me how you found Kakashi if he was under a concealing jutsu."

"That's right. Well, it's simple, train the birds to detect bodies under the jutsu, release them and reanimate life."

Gai looked stunned. "You taught sparrows how to perform forbidden jutsu's?"

"Eh, kind of. See only three know them: Junko, Kafa, and Miska. Miska was the one I sent to find Kakashi. What they do is sense for any traces of chakra in the area. Their feet are very sensitive, and they increase their sensitivity when they get in touch with their own chakra. I find someone who can perform mind transfer jutsu and while inside the bird's body they get in touch with the reserves of chakra and force it to the feet where it will stay. Takes time but it's worth it."

"Amazing...so Ino must've helped a bit, huh?"

"Yes she did. Now as a body decays, the chakra is released--not in large amounts, but just enough. Even the bones radiate chakra."

"So now I understand how the birds detect the body, but how does it perform jutsu and how did you decide where to send it?" Gai adjusted his position on the bed as he became more and more interested.

"You doubt my intuition?"

"Oh no, I was just wondering."

"Well then, intuition was how I sent that bird. Now, before I actually send them out, I put two tiny seals underneath the birds stomach and set them up so when they come in contact with a specific body's DNA or come into close range, they activate."

"Wow."

"Shikamaru fixed that up for me."

"Were these birds usually used for scouting before the seals?"

"Yes."

"Why haven't I heard about this system before?"

"Well, the use of forbidden jutsu is forbidden. The less people know, the better off we are," Tsunade folded her hands and rested them on the end of the bed. "So this is probably what happened. Miska detected Kakashi's chakra and as soon as he touched the body or was close enough, Kakashi became visible and he was reanimated. Once this happens, a light in my office turns on and that's when I know we hit something. A device is implanted on the birds wings which allows us to trace the position of it. The bird is trained to stay where it is until I return."

"Heh, I think Konoha has something other villages don't have."

"When Sakura and I entered the house we saw the skeleton and rotting flesh of Kakashi," Tsunade saw Gai wince at the bluntness of this statement. "Under normal circumstances, Miska would immediately fly on my shoulder, but he stopped next to the dead body and sang. This told me something was up. There have been no cases so far, but it is possible that Kakashi's soul did not depart once again after it had been reanimated."

"What," Gai's eyes widened. "You mean Kakashi may still be alive?"

"In a way. He's a lost soul...I can use a special jutsu that very few even know about. It's used mostly with the paranormal investigators; it allows them to find spirits, and I found one."

A silence filled the room. Gai shifted uncomfortably.

"So what happens now...?" he asked.

"I told him to follow me; I'm not sure if he will--a soul has a special connection with the place they died in so no one knows. Having never encountered this situation, I'm not sure what to do next, but I think I can bring him back to life for sure."

"No!"

"Yes...it's risky and could cause a major tear between the world of the living and the dead, but if Kakashi wants to go for it, I'll do my damndest to make him whole once more."

"I don't know what to say Tsunade..." Gai scratched the back of his head.

"I know what you'll say: absolutely nothing! This is not to be discussed in any way to anyone, got it?" Gai nodded his head. "Good. Now for your physical."

Sakura leaned back against the wall absorbing all she had heard. _Kakashi..._

* * *

**You have now entered the Twilight Zone...review please!**


End file.
